The Portland daily press., 1887-10-15
WHAT THEY READ IN JAPAN.
Novels Five Centuries oId-A paper
with 5000 SubscrIbers-Maca
avs Essays.

with 10000 Observation-Disclosures
avs Essays.
In looking through an open-air book stall
the other day, writes correspondent from
Toxic, Japan, came across Japanese YER
sions Of "A Dead Secret" miss ChristabeP'
lies Miserables," lie Maitre de Forge.
''Serge Famine" "Monte Cristo," and brave
but unfortunate metrical translation of some
Of Tennyson's and Browning's poems The
Japanese are great novel readers. Bakin,
one of the most prolific of writers, who
reached the zenith Of his fame simultaneous
ly with Balzac, is still regarded as the model
novelist of all times, although the ancient
rOmances of graceful sentimentalists of the
past still find ardent admirers. Some of the
stories are as attractive and pleasant as the
the best inspirations of Boccaccio. They are
so quaint, such inimitable mosaics of prose
and verse. so sweet and tender, that in read
ing them one almost catches the faint fra
GRANGE Of the cherry blossoms, or the distant
melodious throb of the lutte touched by the
dainty court ladies Of five centuries ago. II
is pity that the novelists of the present
care more for the suffrage of the public than
The court is EuropeaniZed and no longer
the inspiration Of poetic conceptions and ele-
CANT wit The writers of the present cater
to the prevalent taste for sensational. highly
spiced r0mances, in which as many of the
principal actors as possible commit suicide.
perform valorous deeds as bandits, run off
with the wrong women, or break hearts by
the wholesale. Books Of this description fiji
the market, with Illustrations in keeping
with the text Political novels, Just now the
fashion Of a 0iQtinQflv hfOhor al
1.-The Beauty of Women" is one OF the most
remarkable in this connection The seventh
volume has just been handed to the expect
ant public, and up to the end of the sixth
the wandering hero had contracted violent
attachment to five beautiful women in az
many beautiful countries. To the foreign
and critical reader this tale calls to mind the
the voyages Of Sinbad, plus Stearne's "Senti-
mental Journey" and sprinkling Of 0uida
10 her most rampant mood. Yet there is no
doubt that the author intends his story to
have a political signifeaton, in the sense
that Japan can flourish neither intellectually
nor physically under the present administra-
ton. THE Plum Tree in the Snow" is
much better and more instructive book. 1t
depicts the condition of Japanese some CEN
turtles hence, and, under the guise of a simple
narration of events is stingingly satrieal
THE Life of Great Statesman founded on
the life Of the late Lord Beaconsfield, is
somewhat drier, but far more healthful and
=
Not belonging to this category, and GER
tainly not Japanese compilation, is Smiles
Self Helps" yet it is one of the most popu-
lar works in this country-a fact which re-
fleets little credit on the reading public The
first translation of this well-known book was
made some ten years ago by Japanese
scholar whose limited knowledge of the Eng
fish language caused his work to be inaccur-
ate. Since then other and better translations
have appeared, while the English original
and the German versions have been intro
duced as text books into several schools.
Journalism is making rapid progress, al
though the largest daily in Japan has not
more than 10000 subscribers. In Toxic there
are five leading dallies, besides over dozen
Of less Importance. The (Jij Shimpo) Times
is undoubtedly the best edited newspaper in
this country, and next to it comes the Toxic
Daily news, semi-0fficial organ. Among re-
cent successful papers may be noted the
Friend OF the People, edited by young poll
tician who promises TO become one OF the
most powerful advocates of the people in the
parliament which is to be established in 1890
Among the papers of the central and south
ern provinces the Osaka Morning Sun de-
serves mention as having the largest circula-
ton OF any journal in Japan. In Japanese
newspaper Imperial ordinances, new laws
and regulations come first; then the editorial
zone only; the local and foreign kilograms,
domestic and foreign paragraphs, correspond
enee, mail, notices and timetables, and final
ly one meager page of advertisements. Only
one daily paper in the empire gives more
than four pages of mental pabulum to its
subscribers. of illustrated papers there is
quite large number; but they ale inyari-
ably commonplace, given to slangy expires
sions, sensational sketches and more than
questionable personal remarks.
There is something pathetic in the intense
earnestness with which the Japanese are en-
deavoring to make occidental civilization
their own. No branch of thought, however
abstruse, but has fought opponents and en-
Enthusiastic admirers among them; no art.
whether music, painting. or acting, but this
progressive people Is striving to cultivate,
Spencer, Mill, Adam Smith, and Bacon Shak-
speare, Wordsworth and Milton; Bulwer
Lytt0n and Alexander Dumas are as familiar
TO the learned japanese as they are to Amer
leans or Engllshmen. And this, too, not by
means of having studied the original. Int
generally through the medium Of transla-
tons. The great stumbling block in the way
OF Japanese students is the laburiOus and
complex system Of writing, upon the acquire
nent OF which they have to spend years of
study. To read even what appears in the
daily papers requires knowledge of more
than 900 Chinese kilograms or characters.
For While the Japanese has fine alphabet.
or rather sylabary, Of their own, only those
OF the poorest education employ it to the ex-
clusion OF the complex symbols borrowed
from China. Despite the great advance in
all else, the Japanese government shows
great conservatism in still making the read
ing OF the Chinese classics obligatory in all
government schools. And yet, in order to
understand the precepts Of COnfucius a
knowledge Of more than 1000 characters is
absolutely necessary.
The Roman letter or Speling-reform Socie-
ty was formed some three years ago 10 eoun-
telact tnls tendency. Some few books have
been printed in this alphabet, which Is essen
TALLY the same as our own, with the excep-
ton or the letters X, v, q, and !, these not APP
pearlng In the japanese tongue. But while
this society numbers some 10000 members.
all pledged to correspond in and make as
much use as possible of the new alphabet,
the use of the Roman symbols is restricted
and makes much less Roadway In Japan than
theVOlapuk of the German theologian in
Austria and France, or than the spelling re-
form IN America. Despite this fact, the
journal of the University of Toxic, started
last year, shows that the japanese are fully
able to express their thoughts and publish
their discoveries in English German and
French. Nor is the university the only in
stiIution which publish bimonthly or quar-
terly Journal In these three languages The
theological Society has its monthly publca-
lions edited in English as well as in Japan
csc, and It's example is followed by number
Oh learned bodies In the metropolis and larg-
e e cltles. reprints are cheap in Japan,
though the engraver-for nearly all reprints
are llthographed-often slips up on such
puzzling letters as X and q. Nearly all of the
standard readers have been reprinted here.
One can buy copy of Macaulay's "Warren
Hastings" for less than six cents, and the es-
say on Bacon and Lord Give costs no more.
Yet these reprints command no very large
sale; 1t Is the translatiOns of standard Euro
pean writer's that meet with the approval of
the public A Japanized version of the "Mer-
chant of Venice" with fearful and wonder
full lustrations-Shylock in striped panta-
looms, and Bassanio smoking a five cent cigar
may be bought for about eight cents. Bull
wer's "Rienzi,. Last Of the Barons," and
other such works, have been translated into
the vernacular.
TiPpu Tbs NEW MISSION.